Using mkvmerge to fix incompatible HDR metadata for the Sony Bravia 7 by remuxing content.

fix_hdr_format.md

Fixing incompatible HDR metadata for the Sony Bravia 7 Plex app

The problem

Some HDR DoVi (Dolby Vision) content is incompatible with the Sony Bravia 7. This has to do with specific DoVi format levels not being well supported, especially with Plex on the Bravia 7.

Getting the relevant metadata of the incompatible file:

mediainfo --Output=JSON not_working.mkv | jq '.media.track[] | select(."@type" == "Video") | with_entries(select(.key | startswith("Format") or startswith("HDR_Format")))'

Output:

{
  "Format": "HEVC",
  "Format_Profile": "Main 10",
  "Format_Level": "5.1",
  "Format_Tier": "High",
  "HDR_Format": "Dolby Vision / SMPTE ST 2086 / SMPTE ST 2086",
  "HDR_Format_Version": "1.0 / ",
  "HDR_Format_Profile": "dvhe.08 / ",
  "HDR_Format_Level": "10 / ",
  "HDR_Format_Settings": "BL+RPU / ",
  "HDR_Format_Compatibility": "HDR10 / HDR10 / HDR10"
}

The output shows HDR_Format_Level of 10 (4k@120fps) and duplicate formats in HDR_Format and HDR_Format_Compatibility. The Plex app on the Bravia 7 cannot direct play this content.

The solution

The metadata can be fixed by using mkvextract and mkvmerge, tools included in the Linux mkvtoolnix package. A GUI version of this tool is available for Windows and Linux desktop.

MAKE SURE YOU ARE USING A RECENT VERSION OF MKVTOOLNIX (v82.0, included with Ubuntu 24.04LTS, or later). Earlier versions are INCOMPATIBLE with Dolby Vision and will lose DoVi metadata.

The first step is to extract the HEVC (x265) stream from the original Matroska container. In this case the video stream is track 0 in the container:

mkvextract not_working.mkv tracks 0:"hdr_stream.hevc"

Next remux the extracted stream with the original file:

mkvmerge -o fixed.mkv hdr_stream.hevc -D not_working.mkv --track-order 0:0

-D ignores the video stream of the not_working.mkv file, so mkvmerge instead uses the video stream in hdr_stream.hevc. --track-order 0:0 says to use the track in file with id 0 (hdr_stream.hevc) as track 0 in the output file.

You may need to map all the input tracks to the output.

Now review the mediainfo metadata.

{
  "Format": "HEVC",
  "Format_Profile": "Main 10",
  "Format_Level": "5.1",
  "Format_Tier": "High",
  "HDR_Format": "Dolby Vision / SMPTE ST 2086",
  "HDR_Format_Version": "1.0 / ",
  "HDR_Format_Profile": "dvhe.08 / ",
  "HDR_Format_Level": "06 / ",
  "HDR_Format_Settings": "BL+RPU / ",
  "HDR_Format_Compression": "None / ",
  "HDR_Format_Compatibility": "HDR10 / HDR10"
}

HDR_Format_Level has been corrected to 06 (4k@24fps), and a duplicate HDR_Format has been removed along with its respective HDR_Format_Compatibility header.

This file will now direct play in Plex on the Bravia 7.

Note on HDR formats

I'm not certain whether the file has issues playing on the Plex app on the Bravia 7 due to the HDR_Format_Level, which governs the max resolution and framerate, or whether it has to do with the duplicate metadata.

Tools and references

• Browser-based mediainfo
• MKVToolNix
• Handbrake issue that may illustrate the problem
• r/PleX Dolby Vision thread
• Using FileFlows to create a workflow for automated media normalization
• It is also very helpful to understand DoVi Profiles